Hopelink Programs
Emergency Services
Hopelink's 5 centers in Bellevue, Kirkland, Redmond, Shoreline, and Sno-Valley serve as a community resource providing emergency financial assistance, food banks, energy assistance, and eviction prevention, along with information and referrals for families and individuals seeking access to medical care, counseling, and other critical support.
Housing
Hopelink is excited to be part of a new approach to serving homeless families in King County. This new system of coordinated entry and assessment, the Family Housing Connection, provides a single access point for families who are currently homeless or are at risk of becoming homeless. Hopelink serves approximately 200 homeless families per year through our service enriched housing program. Our Housing and Family Development Case Managers play a key role in helping families move from crisis to increased stability.
Asset Building
Our Asset Building Programs work with clients to help them develop a plan to prevent their falling back into crisis while increasing opportunities that promote their long-term stability. At any entry point to Hopelink services, clients have access to a variety of options for adult basic education, GED test prep, ESL, workforce literacy, and financial literacy/management. Obtaining or increasing employment as well as maintaining employment is a key initiative of our Asset Building Program.
Recent Successes and Current Challenges
For calendar year 2012, Hopelink programs achieved the following results:
13,834 people received food through our 5 food banks; this amounted to over 2.6 million pounds of food.
751 families received $578,923 in eviction prevention help.
511 people received services through our Asset Building Programs. These services included adult literacy education, ESL, GED test prep, employment, and financial literacy training.
200 families were able to secure housing through Hopelink Housing. Of families who entered our shelter program, 79% achieved greater housing stability once leaving the shelter. 81% of families in our transitional housing program achieved permanent housing, and 97% of families in our permanent housing program maintained their permanent housing – almost half of them obtained permanent housing outside of Hopelink Housing.
Continuing Challenges
Aside from the initial surge in people needing services, the great recession continues to have a far-reaching impact on those who are living at or below the poverty level. In response, Hopelink is focusing a high level of effort toward increasing the number of people we serve in our service area through outreach programs and increased service levels.
As we continue to experience significant cuts and fluctuations in public funding, financial support from our community becomes even more critical to our ability to provide services to the thousands of people who seek our help every year.